The BEST toy you ever received or gave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can occasionally find Colorforms at places like Marshalls and TJMaxx!

Okay, I loved the microscope I got...and the rock tumbler...and the telescope!

And I guess those gifts paid off since I am now a rocket scientist!

Awesome!! I love to hear things like this!!

I know I can't control who DD is or what she becomes, but I (not so secretly) hope she follows your math/science path. In the meantime, we're all about toys like this around here, and so far she loves them!

P.S. I loved colorforms, too. I just checked and they have them on Amazon.

I'm the microscope/rock tumbler/telescope PP. Thanks. I (not so secretly) hope for the same for my daughter...but so far, it's my son who is showing a lot of strength in math/science/engineering. DD just wants to talk and socialize!

That's great! Maybe she (and he) will turn out to be a math/science type with fabulous EQ and managment/leadership skills!! What a combination!

[Anonymous]

Okay, so maybe I was a bit nerdy but I loved my Book of the Month (the gift that kept on giving...and I still have most of the books). I've looked high and low for something like that now, but no luck so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here - I loved my rock tumbler when a kid! Gave me many hours of fun - though can't quite figure out why now? Makes me happy just thinking about those simpler times....

I use a rock tumbler for work (I cut and polish gems) and I really enjoy my tumbler. I love the different stages and the beautiful pieces I have when I am finished. I have some stones that come out so nicely that I just drill a hole in them and string them on leather.

My favorite gift when I was a kid, wasn't even my gift, it was my brother's. My mom was in a whacky stage of life and gave him a pair of pleather pants (and a rubber chicken) and to this day even she isn't sure why. My brother refused to go near them but it wasn't long before two of my sisters and I discovered they could be used for something. There were three of us, but only two sleds, and some how we figured we could use his pants. They were awesome! We could put them over our pants, they were waterproof, they were slick, and we didn't have to drag a sled back up the hill. Nothing could hold us back.

This is HILARIOUS!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:wow, I love hearing about all these bizarre toys. And I really wanted both the rock tumbler and the barbie head when I was little! Didn't get either one, sadly.

My favorite gift was the fisher price little people main street- at least I think it was a main street, or a little town- I remember it had a fire station and a post office and a theatre. I loved delivering all the tiny pieces of mail.

The original little people were great. But unfortunately some child choked on a piece, and they were discontinued.
FP has tried to bring them back in some form, but they are not the same. I tried to introduce my kids to the new ones, but they did not have the same appeal.
We played for HOURS upon HOURS with ours. We had two houses, a boat, trailer, farm, and tons of people. I will never forget those days.

Does anyone remember super elastic bubble plastic. That stuff was neat. Probably too toxic for kids now. The solvent would probably give a high.

[Anonymous]

Oh, heck yeah! I used to save up my allowance to buy tubes of that elastic super bubble stuff! I'd tease my cat with the bubbles... she would want to chase them, then get a whiff of the certain poison that was in them, and run the other direction.

I had forgotten about those. Henceforth, I shall blame all lapses of memory/attention/patience on toxic childhood toys. Thanks!

And another... did anyone else sneak around to buy Garbagepail Kids cards? My parents hated those, and would throw them away whenever we were careless enough to let them be found.

[Anonymous]

I must be too old for the Garbage Pail cards. I remember these cards called "Wacky Packs", which would have cards of products like "Captain Punch". I don't know why we were all so crazy about them, but we were.

I also remember crazy foam, which we used the play with in the bath.

[Anonymous]

Remember those click clack like things that were two hard plastic balls tethered on some kind of string? You had to swing it so the two balls clicked back and forth. Again, some kid took it in the eye, so they were discontinued.

OOH, what about the sea monkeys. They never grew. You had that blue water. You sat there for weeks waiting. The picture on the package had a real family. My sister was so sure that she would get a whole village. No such luck.

Then there were the funny rocks that would crystallize out of I don't know what. You added something to water then some kind of sediment collected. What was that called again?

[Anonymous]

I loved my Sunshine Family-- like Barbie dolls, but they were hippies! I had the Sunshine family store and would use kitchen clay to make little tiny sets of dishes to sell in the store.

Also loved Light Bright-- until I melted the colored pegs into a cake in my Easy Bake oven.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I loved my Sunshine Family-- like Barbie dolls, but they were hippies! I had the Sunshine family store and would use kitchen clay to make little tiny sets of dishes to sell in the store.

Also loved Light Bright-- until I melted the colored pegs into a cake in my Easy Bake oven.

Me again. Rocket scientist got me thinking-- Maybe toys really are destiny. During a recent visit home, my mom got out all our old Fisher Price toys for the kids to play with. The house had been mine, and my sister had the hospital. Now I'm a haus frau and my sister is a doctor. Boy, my parents really screwed me economically.

[Anonymous]

I loved those clakcer things!

My best gift ever was my Schwinn 10 speed. I got it in 5th or 6th grade and I was so surprised. I rode that thing forever.

[Anonymous]

This isn't a toy buy I have to respond because I remember it so well. About 1980, a purple polyester nightgown with a picture of Shaun Cassidy and the saying... "His kind of girl." I remember opening the box on Christmas, immediately putting it on and calling my girlfriends to boast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, so maybe I was a bit nerdy but I loved my Book of the Month (the gift that kept on giving...and I still have most of the books). I've looked high and low for something like that now, but no luck so far.

I think I saw that Politics and Prose is offering a book of the month club for a gift- check their website or newsletter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wanted the Barbie makeup head soooo badly when I was little. Wasn't there also a Farrah Fawcett and Brooke Shields head too? In any event, my parents refused to get one for me, or any other Barbies, they didn't think she is a good role model. I don't really either but have gotten them for my kids b/c I still remember how much I wanted the doll and the head and am still pissed I couldn't get one!

Barbie Make-Up Head here. I must say, this thread has really lifted me up. I practically feel like royalty.

What do you think is the Barbie Make-Up Head today? Actually, parents give kids everything nowadays. So even if there is a Barbie Make-Up Head, there's no more cache to it.

I find the problem today would be that the Barbie make-up head today would be so cheap that it woud be 2-dimensional. Or it would have to make a million sounds and the eyes would have to light up. They just don't make good, solid, basic toys anymore.

Last year for Christmas I gave my five year old DD the Barbie Make-up head. There were two heads, a blonde and a brunette, in the box. The quality was just about the same as I remember. I am trying to remember where I got them, and I am pretty sure, I got them at Burlingtion Coat Factory in Laurel.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I can practically smell the pages of the Sears Catalog my brother and I used to thumb through, looking at all the toys and making our lists for Santa.

Favorites:

The original Mattel Football:
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/FB.htm

I wasted more time on that thing than I have so far the Internet. And that's saying a lot.

[Anonymous]

Someone gave us a Snoopy Sno-Cone maker, and grr, I hate it, but the kids can't get enough of it--even though I've cheated them out its true pleasures by giving them juice to pour over the shaved ice. (They love it just the same.)